Window-shade-controlling device.



B. E. HARRIS.

WINDOW SHADE CONTROLLING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 15, 1913.

. 099,360. Patented June 9, 1914.

Inventor,

Witnesses Attorneys.

COLUMBIA PLANOUBAFH C0" WAIYIINGTON. Bic.

EDWARD E. HARRIS, OF VALLIANT, OKLAHOMA.

WINDOW-SHADE-CONTROLLING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

App1ication filed. February 15, 1913.

Patented June9, 1914. Serial No. 748,763.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that/I, EDWARD E. HARms, a citizen of the United States, residing at Valliant, in the county of McCurtain and State of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vindow- Shade-Controlling Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention appertains to devices for controlling or manipulating the rollers of window shades and is particularly an improvement over the appliance disclosed in my former Patent No. 10 1 1453, issued November 12, 1912.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a shade roller so constructed that the shade may be wound and unwound on and from the same in an cilicient and true manner in order that the shade may not shift or travel longitudinally of the roller as it is being wound or unwound.

Another object of the present invention is to provide novel and improved means for manipulating the roller by means of a. cord or other flexible member.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a bracket for supporting one end of the roller, and which carries the controlling mechanism for the rollers, this bracket being so formed that a knot thread ed on the cord may be conveniently passed through the bracket in a certain direction but will ordinarilybe prevented from passing through the bracket in the other direction.

As a further object, the present invention aims to provide means whereby the cord may be wound in layers upon one end of the roller without climbing.

With the foregoing and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the detail of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters have been employed to denote corresponding parts,

Figure 1 is a front View of the shade roller constituting the present invention, an

end portion of the roller being broken away to more clearly explain the construction. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of one of the two supporting brackets in which the two roller extremities are supported. Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are respectively top and side views of the other supporting bracket, a portion of the roller carrying aratchet wheel being sectionally shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 5 is a view in side elevation of a modified form of the bracket shown in Figs. 3 and 1, the mechanism carried by said bracket being also modified in this view. Fig. Oshows a modification of a bracket in side elevation with a portion of the roller shown in section. Fig. 7 is a section through the ratchet wheel and the adjacent portion of the roller.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate similar parts in all the figures, the

numeral 1 denotes an elongated roller preferably of wood, upon which roller a curtain or shade 2 formed of flexible material is adapted to be wound. One extremity of the roller 1 is given a slightly reduced diameter indicated at 3 and to the end face of this extremity, there is rigidly secured a ratchet wheel 4:. This wheel will preferably be held upon the roller by a pin 5 passing centrally into the roller extremity and provided with a collar 6 bearing against the outer face of the wheel to prevent displacement of said wheel. The pin 5 projects sufiiciently outward beyond the collar 6 to furnish a pivotal support for the correlated extremity of the roller. The reduced end portion 3 of the roller serves as a drum upon which may be wound a cord 6, one extremity of which is rigidly secured to the fac of said drum. In order to increase the carrying capacity of the drum 3, the adjacent end face of the roller is slightly dished as indicated at 7 in Fig. 1. It is apparent that as the cord 6 is being wound upon the drum 3 it will form layers superimposed one upon another. After each layer has been formed it is desirable that the cord start to form the next layer rather than that it should climb up against the adjacent wall forming, convolutions of successively iiicreasing diameter and thus possibly escaping entirely from the drum. To'avoid such a contingency, the inner face of the ratchet wheel 1 is provided with a plurality of annular grooves 7 concentric with said wheel. In case the cord should attempt to coil up bracket from the wall since the groove 12 in, 1

against the said face of the said ratchet wheel it will have no support as it reaches a point opposite one of the grooves 7 and will necessarily begin forming a. layer feeding toward the other end of the drum.

It has been stated that the roller 1 is furnished with a pivotal support atone extremity by the projecting end of the pin 5. At the other extremity of said roller a pin 10 is adapted to furnish a similar pivot-a1 support.

' The pivot member 10 is adapted to be rotatably mounted in a bracket member 11, said member being rovided with a slot 12 extending downwardly at a forward inclination from the top edge of said bracket. The rear end of the bracket is provided with an angular portion 13 which may be fastened by screws or other suitable means against the window facing. The bracket is provided at its front extremity with a curved flange 14: which is adapted to overhang the roll formed by the shade upon the roller, servinoto impart an ornamental appearance to thebracket. That port-ion of the bracket 11 forming a ,seat for the member 10 is pressed inwardly as indicated at 15, the lower extremity of the groove 12 being at the center of this inwardly pressed portion;

This construction reduces the amount of friction evolved inthe operation of the roller since it reduces the contacting surfaces producing friction. v V

f The other extremity of the roller is adapted to be rotatably supported by a bracket comprising four parts respectively numbered 16, 17, 1S and 19. The member 16 is provided with an aperture 19 adapted to receive the projecting extremity of the pin 5. After the roller has been mounted in the two brackets the ratchet wheel 4 will occupy a position closely adjacent to the inner face of the member 16 as is clearly shown in Fig. 1. t is here to be observed that in withdrawing the roller from the brackets, it is not necessary to remove either the bracket'll permits that extremity of the rollerwhich is supported by said bracket to be displaced upwardly until the other exbe displaced toward the bracketll sufli- 'ciently to remove the pin 5 from its seat in the correlated bracket. I The ratchet wheel 4 is engaged by a pawl 20 which will preferably be made quite heavy in order to maintain the pawl by its own weight in normal engagement with the ratchet wheel. At its rear end the pawl is provided with two parallel arms 20 which have their free extremities pivotally mountedupon a pintle 21, the ends of which are respectively mounted in the members 16 and 19 of the bracket. Beneath each arm 21 and integral with said arm there is formed a sup- 6 will be winding upon the drum 3. V the curtaln or shade is being raised and the plementary arm 22 substantially perpendicular to the pintle '21, the arms 22 being parallel and respectively adjacent to the inner faces of the members 16 and 19. The free end of each member 22 is provided with a rigidly mounted outwardly projecting pin 23 passing through aslot 24: provided in the adjacent wall. The slots 24: are of arcuate shape, the center of curvature. being taken at the pintle 21.

The construction designated by the numerals 22, 28 and 2 1 is designed to limit the amount of angular displacement which the pawl 20 may undergo relative to the pintle 21, the displacement permit-ted being only sufiicient to permitthe free end of the pawl to be disengaged from the ratchet wheel teeth. Upon the pintle 23 between the arms 22 a small roller 24 is rotatably mounted and a similar roller 25 isrotatably mounted upon the pintle 21 between the arms 20 Thecord '6 after passingfrom the drum .3 is carriedupon theunderside of the roller 24? and is thence carried over the roller 25 passing downwardly from said roller-between the inner face thereof and the portion 18 of the correlated bracket.

It is to be understood that as the cord 6 is I unwound from the drum.3 through a pull manually exerted upon the free end of said cord, the curtain or shade will be simultaneously raised and wound upon the roller. Similarly when the curtain is being lowered and is unwinding from its roller,-the cord 57 When cord 6 is under strain, this strain acting upwardly upon the roller 2 1 will produce an angular. displacement of the pawl 20 disengaging said pawl from the teeth of the ratchet wheel 4. As soon as the strain upon the cord 6* is released, the weight of the.

pawl 20 will immediately bring said pawl the desired position of adjustment.

When it is desired to lower the shade or curtain, the cord 6* is placed under a strain jinto engagementwith the ratchet wheel 1 teeth thus holding the curtain orshade in and while thus hold is allowed to slip upwardly through the hands of the operator. Owing to the fact that a constant strain is j impressed upon the cord 6 the pawl 20 will be held in a raised position, disengaged from the ratchet wheel teeth. Since, however, the

cord is allowed to undergo an upward displacement, the weight of the curtain or shade will cause the same to unroll and lower until the strain upon the cord is released or the curtain reaches its limiting po sition of downward ,displacement downward movementof the curtain is limited by forming a knot 27 in the cord '6 which, as said cordtravels upwardly, will contact with the roller 25 when the curtain is almost unwound. Since the'space inter The v vening between the roller 25 and the bracket member 18 is not suificient to permit the knot 27 to pass, the displacement of the cord and the downward displacement of the shade is thus limited. By the provision of the knot 27, all possibility of the shade being jerked entirely free from the correlated roller is eliminated since said knot prevents the shade from entirely unwinding from the roller. It is to be understood that the term knot as herein used is intended to include any fixed obstruction as might be formed upon or attached to the cord to prevent further displacement of the cord when the said. obstruction comes into contact with the roller 25.

In the modified from of bracket and operating mechanism shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the arms 22 and slot 2 1 are done away with. Instead of these parts, I employ in the modified construction a pair of parallel arms 27 having their upper ends pivotally mounted upon opposite sides of the pawl adjacent to the free end thereof, the lower ends of said arms forming supports for the extremities of a pintle 29. Said extremities are permitted to project somewhat beyond the correlated arms, the portions thus projecting being received by slots 30 respectively provided in the members 16 and 19. Upon the pintle 29 between the arms 27 the roller 24, already described, is mounted. Obviously when the cord 6 is placed under strain, this strain will act upon the roller 24: to produce an upward displacement thereof sufficient to disengage the pawl from the ratchet wheel, this displacement being limited by the slots 30.

In Fig. 6 there is shown a modification of the roller actuating mechanism and correlated bracket, special provision being made for passing the knot 27 downward between the roller 25 and the back portion 18 of the bracket. In this construction the pins 31 forming pivotal supports for the pawl 20, project from the forward ends of the arms 20. In the rear ends of the arms is m0unted a pintle 32, carryingthe roller 25 between the arms and having its extremities projecting beyond. the arms into accurate slots 33 provided in the members 16 and 19 of the bracket respectively. The member 19 is provided with apertures 34 above and below the slot 33, said apertures being connected with a much smaller aperture. In this form of the invention, when a strain is placed upon the cord 6, the rear end of the pawl is subjected to a downward displacement limited by the contact of the pintle 32 with the lower ends of the slots Thus the shade may be either raised or lowered while the strain on the cord is continued, but the pawl will at once engage the ratchet wheel when the cord is released. Before mounting an extremity of the roller 1 in the brackets as shown in Fig. 10, the cord 6 will be passed over the roller 25 and fed downward until the knot 27 is reached. The knot 27 cannot pass between the roller 25 and the rear bracket wall, (18) but by passing the knot out through the upper aperture 34 and in again through the lower aperture 34, said knot is brought beneath the spool.

Importance is attached to the fact that the knot carried by the cord 16 gradually tapers toward its ends as shown particularly at 27 in Fig. 4 so that, when the knot comes into contact with the roller 25 the cord will not be apt to break when given a sudden jerk.

\Vhat I claim, is:

1. In a device of the character described, a shade roller having one end reduced in diameter, a bracket for said end comprising a pair of parallel side walls and a rear wall connecting the same, the said end of the roller being journaled in one of the side walls, a ratchet wheel secured to the reduced end of the roller, a pawl for the ratchet wheel having its pivoted end mounted between the parallel side walls, a small roller mounted upon the pivot pin carrying the pawl, a pair of parallel arms projecting downwardly from the free end portion of the pawl, a pintle mounted between said arms, a small roller carried by said pintle and a cord connected with the said reduced end of the roller, trained below the last mentioned small pulley and over the first mentioned small pulley respectively.

2. In a device of the character described, a bracket comprising a pair of parallel side walls and a rear wall connecting the same, a shade roller having one end reduced and journaled in one of said side walls, a ratchet wheel secured to the reduced end of said roller, a pawl for the ratchet wheel having integral parallel arms, the free extremities of which are pivotally mounted, a small roller rotatably mounted between the parallel arms of said pawl, a second roller parallel to the first roller and mounted beneath the pawl, a cord secured to the reduced end of the shade roller and trained beneath the last mentioned small roller and over the first mentioned small roller, said last mentioned small roller being movable with the pawl, and means for limiting such movement of the pawl and roller.

A device 01"" the class described including a bracket having outstanding side walls, a shade roller journaled in one of the side walls, a ratchet wheel carried by the roller, a pawl normally engaging the ratchet wheel and pivotally mounted between the walls, a guide roller mounted within the pawl, a guide roller below the pawl, a connection between the roller and pawl, said roller and pawl being movable upwardly and down:

wardly together, means for limiting such roller, a pawl pivotally mounted between the walls and engaging the ratchet wheel, a guide roller carried by the pawl and movable therewith, means for limiting such movement of the pawl and roller, and an actuating cord secured to the shade roller and trained over the guide roller and downwardly between said roller and the bracket, said cordwhen drawn taut, constituting means for shifting the guide roller to disengage the pawl from the ratchet wheel, there being an enlargement upon the cord and cooperating with the guide roller and the bracket for bringing the cord to a gradual stop while being wound upon the shade roller.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents.

In a device of the character described, a shade roller having one, end reduced in diameter, an actuating cord wound upon the said reduced end, a ratchet wheelsecured to the reduced end, and a pawl for the ratchet wheel designed to be raised when the diameter, an actuating cord wound upon the i said reduced end, the shoulder formed by the reduced end being dished, a ratchet wheel secured to the reduced end and having a plurality of annular grooves in its inner face,

and a pawl for the ratchet wheel designed to be raised when the cord is drawn taut.

In testimony whereof I have signedmy name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWARD'E. HARRIS.

Witnesses: v

SAML. HnnsrmN, T. C. REYNOLDS. 7

Washington, D. G. 

